Twilit Konoha
by Songbird of the End
Summary: Link takes a wrong turn and ends up in Konoha, and it all goes downhill from there. Better than it sounds. A Zelda Naruto crossover. ::Completed:: Penname used to be Albino Chocobo.
1. Chapter 1

Yay! First fanfic! Anyway, here are a few things you should know before reading:

Do not ask me when this takes place! Naruto and co. (Sakura and Sasuke) know everyone from the chuunin exam. But, Lee isn't crippled, and this wouldn't take place during the exam because then they wouldn't be on a mission. The Third Hokage is still alive. Plus, Naruto would be training his butt off and wouldn't have time for that. This takes place in some other, made up time frame. All I can say is that it takes place after the Land of the Waves mission. It takes place in Nowhen, that mystical time where nothing makes sense. Most of the stuff in ( )s don't effect the story at all and are there to give you a better understanding of this fanfic. There might be some errors in spelling, grammar, or punctuation, and I either overlooked them or got lazy and didn't correct them. Since this is my first one, please no flames! Constructive criticism, yes. Flames, no. While bearing that in mind, sit back, relax, and enjoy this Zelda/Naruto fanfic.

scene change llllllll

A tired group of ninja can be seen walking through the forest. There were four in this group: a girl with pink hair, a blond boy, a boy with black hair, and a man with white-ish hair. It was cell 7 of Konohagakure(meaning Naruto and co.). It was late afternoon, with a somewhat heavy fog. Naruto and Sakura had their guards almost totally down, but Sasuke and Kakashi were very much alert.

"Wait." said Kakashi, breaking the silence. He had heard something, but didn't want to scare his students. But they knew that Kakashi rarely ever stops, so his was a futile effort. They also knew that he was trying to hear something, so they kept quiet. After about a minute, Sasuke heard what Kakashi had heard: footsteps.

Kakashi was puzzled by this. A ninja wouldn't be so careless as to let his(or her) footsteps be heard. The footsteps kept getting closer, at a constant pace. Which meant, Kakashi thought, that whoever's coming closer hasn't noticed that we've stopped moving. Definitely not a ninja. However, there was a strange feeling about whoever was coming closer. It seemed…not human. It could be Orochimaru, but he was a skilled ninja. Did he not consider them a threat?

While Kakashi was racking his head trying to figure out who could be following them, a figure appeared in the fog. Well, it was more like a vague silhouette of a person. Even through the thick fog, Kakashi could make out a sword hilt. He acted upon instinct and dove through the fog with a kunai knife in front of him, ready to slash through whoever was there.

Over those past few minutes, Naruto and Sakura were on edge. Kakashi seemed to still be listening, so they stayed quiet. But after a few minutes, they began to think Kakashi was imagining things. They received a shock when Kakashi suddenly whirled around, pulled a kunai from his pack, and dove into the fog.

The figure in the fog stopped, and apparently saw a shape rushing him. Clang! Kakashi saw a shield stop the kunai knife. He took a quick look at the person in front of him, and what he saw surprised him.

It appeared to be a young man-about the age of 18, and his slight build betrayed his strength. He was wearing brown leather boots with white pants, along with a long green shirt and a belt over it. _What did kids call them? Tunics? Focus_, he thought. The young man was a dirty blond and was wearing a long, pointed green hat. He had a sheathed sword and the shield he was holding had a strange insignia on it. But that wasn't the part that really made him stand out. His ears were pointed, and his kind blue eyes were elven.

While taking this all in, he saw the young man's left hand rise slowly to his sword hilt and closed his hand around its grip. Kakashi watched as he seemed to stop, and lowered his hand away from the hilt and focused on keeping the kunai away from his body. Despite having kind eyes, Kakashi could see there was some hate hidden just below the surface. This traveler seemed to be heading towards Konohagakure, and he didn't want this boy to cause trouble. Everyone seemed to be on edge because of Orochimaru.

Kakashi pulled back, causing his opponent to lose his balance for a split second. But that was all Kakashi needed. He went right between shield and wielder and slashed right across the chest, a little above the heart. The traveler fell backwards and hit the ground with a thud. Kakashi jumped into the air and dived on top of the stranger, the kunai pointed at his heart. Clang! The traveler stopped the kunai literally inches from his chest. But with what? As far as he could tell, it was a metal, claw-like device in his right hand. _Impressive_, Kakashi thought, _he stopped my dive with only his right arm_. Then he saw another of the same type of device in the stranger's left hand. He gripped the kunai above where the right one was.

Kakashi jumped backwards off of him, leaving the kunai wedged between the stranger's hands. Kakashi was ready for him to jump up and attack him immediately, but it seemed as if he was stunned. He got up, taking his left hand off the kunai and stared at it. He used the device on his left hand to move the kunai so the loop was pointed outward and extended his arm, as if to give it back.

As he did this, he spoke for the first time during their encounter. But it wasn't the same language Kakashi spoke. It seemed like an ancient tongue; the type that died out long ago.

"What?!" gasped Kakashi.

That startled the traveler. It seemed that neither knew nor spoke the other's language.

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I forgot the disclaimer! Nooooooooo! (gets dragged away by lawyers)

Laret: albino chocobo does not own Naruto or Zelda. Please excuse me while I go bail ac out of jail.


	2. Chapter 2

ac: Second chapter

Teral: Do you really think this piece of crap will get any reviews?

ac: You wanna bet?

Laret: albino chocobo does not own anything, except for the idea. And, until ac is able to figure out how to edit already posted chapters, this will be the first disclaimer. Now please, you two, stop fighting!

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"What do you think is happening?" said Sakura.

At first, there were a few sounds that showed there was a battle, but it was quiet now. At had been at least a minute since they last heard from whatever was going on behind them.

Then, they heard footsteps.

"Be ready for anything" said Sasuke. He heard that there were two sets of footsteps, which didn't fit with the sounds from before.

Through the fog, they could see two figures approaching. They were certain one of them was Kakashi. But who was the other one?

Kakashi appeared through the fog, and beside him was a young man(I already described him, so I'm not repeating anything!). They got a bit of a shock from his ears(again, not repeating anything!). There was a small cut on his chest, but it seemed to be disappearing as you watched.

_If only I was a little older…_ was Sakura's first thought, then quickly blushed at it.

"Kakashi-sensei, who is he?" asked Naruto when they got close enough.

"I was just about to find out." Then he straightened a bit and pointed to himself.

"Kakashi." he said, then motioned towards the others. "Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto." As he said this, he motioned at each one(respectively). Then motioned towards the swordsman expectantly.

He was confused a moment. Then he realized what he was being asked, and said "Link".

Kakashi motioned for Link to wait outside of the Hokage's office. Kakashi and co. went inside to report on how the mission went and to see if the Hokage would meet with Link to try to figure out about him.

Link leaned against a tree across from the building. And, to his soon to be dismay, two girls were walking by. They appeared to be about his age and seemed to have taken interest. He saw them starting towards him, saw that look in their eyes, and thought he should get away quickly.

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Kakashi and co. came outside to see two girls standing where Link had just been.

"Where did he go?" one of them asked, "He just disappeared!"

"I don't know, but I bet we'll see him again," the other one said with a giggle.

The girls walked away, talking amongst themselves. Naruto ran to the tree and started looking around frantically. Then he looked up, and pointed.

"Found him" he said.

Sure enough, Link had hooked his arms and legs around a tree branch with his back hanging towards the ground. He looked down over his shoulder and his eyes seemed to ask "Are they gone?" Kakashi nodded as sign that all was clear. Link sighed with relief and let go of the branch. But he didn't fall. One of his mechanical claws was hooked into the branch. He started to slowly glide down and, when he got closer, they saw the claw was attached to a chain. When his feet touched the ground, the claw let go of the branch and whipped back down to the part he was holding. Surprised gasps came from everyone (except Kakashi, he just gave a look). Link just gave a small smile.

"Well, the Hokage agreed to meet with him, so I'll just go ahead and take Link to him." said Kakashi. "It looks like he'll be here awhile, so go ahead and tell all the other gennin."

Link didn't have a clue what they were saying. Kakashi motioned for Link to follow him, and went back into the building.

"C'mon! Let's go tell everybody!" said Naruto and he ran off before they could answer.

_I don't think I'll tell Ino pig quite yet_ thought Sakura with a content smile.

Sasuke just went home.

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_After_ _a pretty awkward "talk", we still know very little about this Link,_ thought Hokage. Link was just exiting the room. _He would have to bunk with Naruto since he seemed excited about their visitor. All we know is: he comes from a place called Hyrule, has yet to take out his sword, has probably numerous items other than a sword and shield, and he speaks a dead, forgotten language. And one more thing,_ he added, _he handed Kakashi an arrow with the point broken off. While we don't know what language he speaks, it seems to be a sign of peace. However, who knows what other things he has in his possession. There are too many things we don't know about him and his past. It just doesn't seem right for a person with kind eyes to be carrying a sword. _

Something Kakashi said floated to the back into his head. "Despite how well he at least tries to hide it, there is some hate just beneath the surface."

"Make sure an anbu agent watches him at all times, but do not attack. Stay hidden and, if he starts making trouble purposely, stop him at all costs."

"Yes Lord Hokage." replied a ninja near him and immediately went off to inform the other anbu agents.

_He's_ _an interesting one, _the Hokage thought_, and I am sure he has much to say. But the language difference is too great._

Then, the ninja that he had sent to look at the maps at the library to find one that matches the one Link had returned.

"I am sorry to inform you, Lord Hokage, that I couldn't find one map that is even similar."

"Another thing to take into consideration," he mumbled to himself. _Just who is he?_

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Well? Please R&R!


	3. Chapter 3

Teral: Your writing from back then sucks.

Hey! I'll be the judge of my own writing! (looks back over it)Wow it really does suck.

Teral: Told you.

Why you little...

Laret: albino chocobo does not own anything except the idea. And please hold on, the writing gets better as you go.

You too, Laret?

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"You really mean it, Kakashi-sensei!?" exclaimed Naruto.

"Yes. Everyone agrees that it would be best if Link stayed with you."

"Alright!! Yahoo!!" Naruto shouted. "Follow me, Link." He said as he grabbed his arm and lead Link into his house.

It was now late in the evening and the sun was almost set. Despite having walked most of the day, Link wasn't very tired. After all, he was used to much more physical work than walking. Link seemed to be a little disturbed by the twilight, but Naruto didn't notice. He also didn't notice that Link's shadow twitched a little, but Link did.

_This place isn't so bad,_ Link thought. _The wound I got on my chest is gone, and I know Kakashi was worried about this place. It seems peaceful enough and he just wanted to protect it. _Link clenched his fist._ …Just like how I want to protect everyone back home. But how do I get back home? I don't even know how I got here! I was walking through the forest, it got foggy, and then…and then…_

A rumble pulled him from his thoughts. He looked over and Naruto was scratching the back of his head and did an embarrassed laugh. Through hand gestures, he asked if Link was hungry. Link shook his head. Naruto lead him to a bed and made a sleeping gesture and pointed to him. Link smiled and nodded and Naruto left for Ichiraku ramen. Link took off his tunic, hat, boots, sword, and shield.

"Do you know how we got here?" he whispered.

"No, it's all fuzzy." Replied a voice from his shadow. "It may have been Zant's doing, but I somehow doubt it. If he wanted to get rid of us so bad, he just could have split us up and sealed us in twilight."

"Don't give him any ideas." Link said firmly.

"You're not really in a position to be making threats, you know."

"I know, I know." _Sheesh,_ he thought. _Of all the people I could have paired with, it just had to be her. But we need each other's help, so there's nothing I can do. After all, now isn't the time to be picky. With Hyrule in its current state, I need all the allies we can get._

_I'll focus more on that tomorrow,_ thought Link. He climbed into the bed, and fell asleep.

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"All right, he's asleep. Rinko, do your thing," said an anbu agent.

"Fine, fine," Rinko replied.

The two anbu agents were sent by the Hokage to keep Link under observation. They were stationed on roof top where you could look in through the window and see Link sleeping. Rinko was chosen especially for the job because of his mind reader jutsu (used for reading minds and/or dreams). At his level of mastery of it, he could probably look into people's memories.

Rinko went entirely still and slumped a little. _He's using it,_ the other agent thought.

_I'll poke around in his memories a little to see if he's really harmless and if we can learn anything else about him_, Rinko thought. Lucky for him, his poking resulted into a dream that both Link and Rinko saw.

The first thing Rinko caught was all the names Link knew. There were so many, it almost gave him a headache. Ilia, Zora, Midna, Zelda, Ordon, Zant, Epona…the list seemed endless and a specific emotion or two were attached to each name. Then he saw a field, with rolling green hills and dirt roads. It shifted quickly to a snow covered mountain, then to a lake in a valley, then a mountain, then a market with a castle behind it, then a scorching desert, and stopped at a picturesque spring deep in a forest. _So, this must be Hyrule,_ Rinko thought. The scene changed to a village in the same forest, and right past that to a ranch. Someone on horseback was herding goats into a barn. The image came into focus, and he could see it was Link on horseback, except that he wasn't wearing the green clothes he had on earlier. The only green part was the left sleeve, which seemed to be from a different fabric altogether, and was held in place by a strap that went across his chest. If one of the villagers hadn't approached Link and that they had similar clothes on, he would have thought Link was just poor. However, the villager didn't have those long ears.

The scene changed slightly and the horse Link was on had a scrape on one of its legs. There was a girl there, smaller than Link, but was glaring at him like there's no tomorrow. The scene changed again and Link was holding a slingshot. There were some other kids there: a boy, a different girl, another boy with blond hair, and what looked like a baby. There were some big bull's eye targets set up. Link hit all the bull's eyes on the targets with the slingshot and seemed to amaze the kids. The scenes were changing faster now. Rinko saw strange, rock-like people. They were dancing and some were sumo wrestling. Then there were fish-like people swimming in a beautiful, small lake with a waterfall. At the top of the waterfall, there was a small room and a throne where a mermaid figure was sitting. Then there was a dusty little village where people were going about there daily lives peacefully. It changed to the market again and people were busily running about. There were three girls outside of a tent giggling and started squealing when a man came out of the tent. The castle behind it stood serenely.

Then, everything seemed to go wrong. The scene was inside the castle. There were guards throughout the huge room and some were talking to a girl in a decorative dress. She was about Link's age and was holding a sword. There was a lot of tension in the room, and most of it turned to shock when black smoke thrust itself into the room. Out of the smoke came these black creatures. They were a little taller than the average man, but seemed a lot heavier and stronger by comparison. The guards tried to fight them, but they were no match for the creatures; one creature knocked a guard down and another jumped on him. Then, another figure came out of the smoke, with two of the other ones with it. This figure wore a black robe with strange markings on it and a helmet (thing) that was pointed at the top. It started talking while one of the shadow beasts lifted a guard off the ground by the neck and started strangling him. It only took one hand for the creatures to lift up a guard off the ground. Rinko felt hatred rising from him. _Oh that's right,_ he thought, _since this is Link's dream, this must be his feelings toward this. And he is furious._ The person with the cone-helmet seemed to have stopped talking, and the only guards left were looking back at the girl. She seemed to be making a decision and she doesn't seem to like her only choice. She dropped her sword, which is a sign of surrender. The scene changed to outside of the castle. The people at the market were looking up at the burning castle. Then an ominous black cloud covered the sky and everything beneath it became bathed in twilight. The people at the market seemed to disappear except for a small, turquoise-ish flame.

Things go from bad to worse as the cloud covered Hyrule. The stone-like people from before were standing in front of a black relic. The biggest one of them (probably the chief) reached out and touched the relic. He began to swell in size and ignited and attacked the ones near him. Four old people from their tribe tried to stop him while the others escaped. Then they were at the waterfall, and the mermaid figure was in the clutches of the shadow beasts. And they executed her in front of her people. The boy that was with her earlier was far away from any water, and he collapsed, wounded, under the withering sun. At the dusty village, a woman got dragged away by one of the beasts. When a mob from the town went after her, she was gone and there were two beasts. Then the children from the forest village, except for the girl who was glaring at Link, were hiding, frightened in a building with the dark beasts prowling outside. Rinko sees the boy with blond hair tied to a spear being held by a monster. Then the boy with blond hair and the glaring girl and Link were at that spring. Some monsters atop of two boars broke through the gate to the spring. Link and the two kids dodged the boars, but the girl got hit with an arrow shot by one of the monsters. Link was about to start over to her, but another monster hit him upside the head with a club, knocking him unconscious. A bigger, blue boar comes in with a single monster on top (that stupid annoying pig thing, you never get to kill it). He pulls out a horn, blows it, and a spot in the sky above the spring turns black and red markings appear soon afterwards. It gave out a satisfied grunt, and he and the other two boars ride out with the two kids that were with Link.

Link wakes up a little after. He looks wildly around the spring and doesn't see the two kids. He runs out the crushed gate and across a bridge, then stops abruptly. (1st person view of this scene)In front of him is a large black wall with strange designs on it. He takes a few steps closer, then a hand reaches through the wall and pulls a startled Link through the curtain of darkness. On the other side, one of the shadow beasts looks very closely at Link; it's hand around his neck. (close up view of Link's eyes)Link's eyes are shut tight, but then they open and are filled with rage. (no longer eye close up)He pulls his sword out of nowhere and cuts the monster in half , its black blood flying everywhere. (zooms out so you can see his whole body)Link is wearing his green tunic, and his eyes are little blue fires fueled by hate. A wolf howls in the distance…

Link bolts up, canceling Rinko's jutsu. Link is staring down at the white sheets and clenches his fist. Rinko is trying to stop his head from spinning.

"Done already? That didn't take long," said the anbu agent beside him.

"Wow. I think I'd better tell lord Hokage about this." Rinko said and starting racing along the roof tops.

The other anbu watched as Rinko sped away, then at Link. "I wonder what he saw," he muttered to himself.

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Teral: Geez, could you've made the dream sequence a little longer?

Oh, shut it. I pick and choose scenes and the ones I like get more detail. Besides, haven't you ever had a dream that was like a movie?

Teral: No, but you have. There were credits and everything!

I swear I'm gonna--

Laret: Please read and review!


	4. Chapter 4

Teral: Still at it?

I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you.

Teral: Do you think people really will read this piece of--

No! Bad demon! No curse words!

Laret: albino chocobo, though against ac's wishes, does not own either of the elements used in this story.

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Despite the interruption (which lasted about 2 hours), everyone slept silently until morning. The Hokage was a little troubled by what Rinko said, but he still slept through the night.

Naruto sat up and was blinking sleepily. _I wonder if Link is up_, he thought blearily. He pulled himself out of bed and walked over to the room where Link was sleeping. He opened the door and Link was standing by his bed fully dressed.

_He's a morning person_, Naruto thought groggily. _Great…_

Link just smiled in return.

"OK, it's time for breakfast!!" Naruto shouted. "Today's special, so we'll have the beef ramen!" He continued. Link just stared at him blankly, but Naruto didn't notice. He was too busy heating the water for the ramen.

After what seemed like an eternity for Naruto, the water was ready. He poured it into two bowls with the ramen already in them. He set one in front of Link and the other at a bare spot on the table. He handed out chopsticks and sat down.

"Itadakimasu!" He said as he snapped apart the chopsticks and began eating. He looked up momentarily at Link. He had broken the chopsticks as Naruto did, but he was holding them all wrong. He had one in each hand and was trying to grab a noodle with them, to no avail.

"Link, like this." Naruto said as he walked over, took hold of Link's chopsticks, and repositioned them correctly in his right hand. Link looked at them and tried grabbing a noodle, but it slipped through the chopsticks. He flushed slightly and tried again, but it got away.

"Hmmmmmmmmm, this isn't working." Naruto said. _I got it!_ He thought and ran to the drawers. _Now where'd I put it?_ Link had given up on using the chopsticks and was watching Naruto curiously.

"Found it!" Naruto cried triumphantly. He walked over to Link and handed him a fork. Link's face brightened as he recognized it. He smiled and nodded, and started eating his breakfast.

_We have the same eyes, _Naruto thought absently. _Sure, they're both blue, but it looks like he went through some of the same things as me._

Naruto finished his bowl way before Link, and noticed Link was holding his fork in his left hand. _Hey aren't you supposed to hold it in your…_ Naruto stopped, then shouted:

"**OH MY GOD!!!!!!"**

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Sakura was leaning against the railing of the bridge, waiting for her teammates and her always late sensei to arrive. For a second she thought she heard Naruto's voice, but ignored it.

It was early summer, and though it was a bit cool, it would be one of those days when the temperature would be perfect (just a little bit lower than body temperature). All the trees weren't blossoming anymore; the only thing adorning their branches were their leaves.

She turned around and watched the water rush under the bridge. There were a few leaves on its surface and she could see the pebbles at its bottom. Although the river was shallow here, just a little ways down it went quite deep.

_I wonder if Link knows how to swim, _she thought absently, _if not, I could give him lessons._

"Sakura!!" Naruto's obnoxious voice snapped her out of her fantasies. She turned to her left and saw Naruto running like there's no tomorrow towards her, pulling Link along with his right hand grabbing his left wrist. _This had better be good._ She thought warningly.

Naruto pretended not to notice the look she was giving him and pointed at Link.

"Didja know? Link's left-handed!" That little tidbit caught Sakura off guard. _That must mean he wields his sword in his left hand. _She thought.

Naruto made a weird face, almost a frightened look.

"Does that mean he's evil?"

"Of course not, baka!" Sakura shouted and punched Naruto in the face. He flew backwards, and let go of Link's wrist. Acting quickly, Link grabbed Naruto's wrist with his right hand and grabbed the railing with his left.

_At least I hope not,_ Sakura thought, suddenly feeling insecure.

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Sasuke came soon after that. He didn't really show any concern when he was told Link was left handed.

After a while, Kakashi came and said there weren't any missions today. After which, Sasuke promptly left, saying he had better things to do.

So now, Link, Sakura, and Naruto were just walking around town. They walked over to the Academy when Konohamaru saw them.

"Hey boss!"

"Hey Konohamaru." Naruto replied. "What're you doing here? There aren't any classes today."

"Training!" was his reply. Then he noticed Link behind them, as well as the sword hilt peeking over Link's shoulder.

"Hey, are you some kind of swordsman?" Konohamaru asked excitedly.

"He is, but he doesn't understand our language." Said Sakura.

"Maybe he'd like to do a little sparring with me." Without letting them answer, Konohamaru ran into the Academy.

_Wow, _Sakura thought, _I finally get to see Link in action!_

_I wanted to be the one to spar with him first,_ Naruto thought_, but this is good too._

Konohamaru reappeared holding two bamboo practice swords. He threw one of them to Link and held the other in a battle position. Link figured it out and got in a battle stance, grinning all the while.

"Here I come!" Konohamaru yelled as he dashed towards Link. Little does he know how out-matched he is…

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Teral: (evil laugh)That runt is getting what's comin to im! By the way, why are there practice swords in a _ninja_ academy?

It's either that or Link murders someone. And as much as you want to see Konohamaru dead, I can't allow it.

Teral: Why not?

I don't think the rating of T will cover it, and I'm not changing the rating.

Laret: Please read and review! Flames will be used to make them stop fighting!...No! Please! It's not as good as it sounds...


	5. Chapter 5

Yes! I made an OC for X-men!

Teral: And before that, you were using me! I still have to pay you back for that...

Laret: albino chocobo doesn't own Naruto or the Zelda series.

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"I blinked. What just happened?" Naruto said.

One moment ago, Link was standing still and facing Konohamaru as he charged Link. Now, Link was sitting on Konohamaru with the practice sword pressed against his neck. Konohamaru's sword just hit the ground a little off to the side.

"A-Amazing." Sakura stammered.

_Ho ho!_ Thought an ANBU agent, watching from the safety of the trees, _He's not bad, not bad at all._

_I changed my mind, _Naruto thought,_ I don't want to spar with Link anymore._

Konohamaru was paralyzed by shock and fear. The sun was directly overhead, so Link's face was almost all shadow except for his eyes. He could still see them fairly well, those clear blue eyes staring right down at his face.

Link got up off of Konohamaru after a moment. He leaned over and extended his right hand to Konohamaru to help him up.

_Strong, _he thought, _and nice._

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After Konohamaru returned the practice swords to the Academy, he came up with some lame excuse to go home. He liked Link and all, but he was kind of scared of him.

So they were just walking around town again. Except that when they passed the Hokage's office, Link stopped.

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

Link just put a finger up to his lips. He then closed his eyes and listened intently. Though they look a little strange, he can hear much better than Sakura or Naruto thanks to his ears. And in the distance he heard…fan girls. Lots and lots of fan girls. And they were getting closer.

Link's eyes flew open and he grabbed Sakura's and Naruto's wrists. He took off into the forest, pulling the two ninjas along with him. After a minute of running, he let go of their wrists, pressed himself against a tree trunk and glanced back to where the street was. The fan girls were now in front of the Hokage's office.

After catching his breath, Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" Then he continued ranting about who knows what, since no one was actually listening. All Link could think about was how much a shouting, orange jump suit wearing person stuck out in the green foliage and silence of the forest. He tried to get Naruto to calm down, and that's when a fan girl spotted him.

"There's that guy from yesterday!" she shouted, pointing in their direction.

All the blood drained from Link's face. Then he turned and ran as fast as he could through the woods.

"No, wait, Link!" Sakura shouted "There's only a river in that direction!" But he was already out of earshot, well, normal earshot. He thought he should stop when he heard his name, but then came the sound of fan girls crashing through the undergrowth. He decided to keep running.

After a while, he heard the sound of rushing water and recognized it as a river. He grabbed his hat and quickly switched it with a similar one. This one was blue and had a piece of armor that protected the forehead. Accustomed to changing clothes and shoes on the run, he switched his green shirt for a blue one, and replaced his boots with what looked like blue flippers. He pulled another pair of boots, this one with iron on the bottom, and held them; if he put them on, he would slow down drastically, but he would need them for the river.

Soon after he changed, he saw the river. _Nayru, I am forever indebted to you for putting a river here!_ He thought, then jumped in, slipped on the Iron Boots , pulled his face mask up, and sank to the riverbed.

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"Ow, ow, ow," Naruto said, picking himself up off the forest floor. Shortly after Link ran off, he and Sakura were trampled by the stampeding fan girls. "Who knew fan girls could run so fast?"

"We should probably see if we can catch up to Link." Sakura said.

"And if he's still intact." Naruto joked. But Sakura was already off. Naruto just sighed and followed.

They soon came to the river, where some of the fan girls seemed to be looking around aimlessly. And talking aimlessly like all fan girls do. After a while of being aimless, they decide to go do something useful with their lives. When they left, a shadow in the river seemed to twitch.

"Hey," Naruto said with a ghostly look on his face, "you don't think that…"

"Link is down there?" Sakura finished for him.

The shadow started to get closer to them. Soon, out of the water came a blue floppy hat, with an ornate forehead armor-piece attached…and kind blue eyes.

"IT WAS LINK!!!" they both shouted in unison. Link pulled down the face mask he was wearing and seemed relieved to be able to take it off. As he got closer to where they were standing, he started to walk slower. He seemed a little irritated by it, so he jumped up a little from the ground. He walked at normal speed after that. Sakura and Naruto never even saw the boots he was wearing.

As Link got closer, they got a better look at the shirt he was wearing. From a distance, it looked like an ordinary long blue shirt. But when he was right in front of them, they could see it was made of very small scales. They only got about a second to look at it, since Link's such a fast changer. Then, it was just his regular green shirt again.

They marveled at his speed for a second, but started walking around again.

_I vow to kill all fan girls who get near Link again!_ Sakura vowed in her head, while Naruto noticed and wondered why she had a scary look at that moment.They still kept an eye out for fan girls, though.

Although, they weren't doing a pretty good job, since they didn't notice Link picked up, and started playing with, a little hitchhiker.

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Laret: Where'd ac go?

Teral: ac's a bit busy being chased by fan girls.

Laret: But, ac isn't very attractive...

Teral: Sorry, I meant an angry mob of what used to be fan girls.

Laret: Ah. Please read and review! Flames will be used to make albino chocobo run faster!


	6. Chapter 6

Teral: Why'd you bring a squirrel in?

Nevermind that! OK, long story short, I don't really like the way this chapter ended. I may rewrite it, but it isn't very likely.

Teral: Answer my question!

Laret: albino chocobo owns neither Naruto or Zelda.

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A small, chittering noise made Sakura and Naruto turn around after a while. On Link's shoulder, seemingly nuzzling against his face, was…a squirrel.

"LINK, YOU BEFRIENDED A SQUIRREL!?" Naruto exclaimed, obviously shocked and pointing at him. _Is he nature guy, or something???_ He thought.

"Link, squirrels carry all kinds of bacteria and even plagues in a few periods in time so for god's sake PUT THE SQUIRREL DOWN!!!" Sakura said, her voice going from her normal speaking volume to screaming her head off.

Not that it was doing any good. They forgot about the language barrier, but he had a pretty good idea of what they were saying. Not that he cared. He has helped many a squirrel in the past, before his big "adventure".

_If only they didn't scream so loud,_ thought Link, and because of his heightened sense of hearing, it sounded like a deafening roar. Sure, he was used to peoples' voices being too loud but, geez. _My ears are going to be ringing in the morning, and maybe a few weeks after, too. _He thought dismally, but continued to comfort the squirrel.

"Hey, what's all the fuss about?"

Everyone stopped screaming (or stroking the squirrel in Link's case), much to Link's relief, and looked at the direction of the new voice. Kiba was crouching on the top of the fence with Akamaru beside him. Then he noticed Link.

"Who's your friend?" Kiba asked as he jumped off the fence. Akamaru unquestioningly followed.

"Is that that swordsman guy you told us about?" he asked, not giving them time to answer the first question.

"Yep!" Naruto replied without a moment's hesitation.

Kiba sniffed the air around him…_He smells weird. Like a cross between a forest and…_he looks up at Link's face, and for the first time looks at his ears. "HOLY CRAP WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO HIS EARS!?!?"

"Kiba…you're just now noticing that?" Sakura said with an omg-he-is-such-an-idiot look on her face.

"Kiba!" Naruto said with a fake shocked expression. "What happened to your eyes!?"

_Touché_. Kiba thought, slightly blushing. "Wait, what happened to **his** eyes!? They don't look natural at all! What is he!?" he said instead, jabbing an accusing finger towards Link.

"We don't know." Sakura and Naruto said in unison.

Now it was Kiba's turn to have an omg-they-are-such-idiots look on his face. _Befriending someone you know nothing about,_ he thought, _you guys officially fail as ninjas._ Then an idea dawned on him.

"If you guys don't know anything about him, why don't you just ask him?"

"We can't." Naruto and Sakura replied in unison.

"WHY NOT!?"

"We don't speak the same language." They said at the same time.

"OK, WILL YOU GUYS STOP IT WITH THE UNISON THING!? IT'S CREEPING ME OUT!!" Kiba shouted almost at the top of his lungs.

"Ok." They said at the same time again.

"ARGH!!!!!" This time, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

_Does every kid in this village scream as loud as they possibly can often?_ Link thought. _Because, if so, I'll end up being deaf within two weeks._

Then Akamaru smelled squirrel, coming from Link's hat. The squirrel had darted in there as soon as it saw the little dog. Akamaru crouched down and started growling. Kiba stopped screaming and noticed Akamaru growling at Link.

"Hey, what's wrong Akamaru?" Kiba asked, confused why his dog didn't like Link. His only reply was Akamaru lunging at Link.

Although Link didn't know what Kiba's dog wanted, he wasn't about to let himself get attacked. He fell backwards (since Akamaru jumped all the way up to his head) and planted his hands on the ground, allowing them to give way a little. He then swayed his body to his right and pushed on the ground, propelling himself upward. He reached out with his left hand and grabbed Akamaru by the scruff. All this took about 2 seconds.

Akamaru put his tail between his legs and pulled his legs close to his body. He whimpered a little, showing Link had dominance. Taking advantage of the situation, the squirrel (who was hiding in the hat the whole time and nearly had a heart attack from the movement) darted out of Link's hat onto the ground, and scurried up the tree as fast as its little fat legs could take it. Link moved Akamaru closer to a shocked Kiba, who held out his hands as Link gently placed the little white dog in his arms.

stunned silence (I'm not going to write what's going through their heads, as you can probably imagine what they're thinking right now)

Sakura and Naruto kept looking back from Kiba to Link and occasionally rubbing their eyes. Kiba was just staring straight on into nothingness, mouth agape, with the whole nobody's-home look. Link bent sideways to his left (so he and Kiba were at the same height), lifted his left hand in front of Kiba's face, and waved in an attempt to get him to respond; needless to say, it didn't work. Link stood up straight, turned to Naruto and Sakura, and just shrugged.

"Oh, I got it!" Naruto shouted after a minute of (gasp!) deep thought. He started digging through his pockets, and talking at the same time.

"Hay, Sakura, Kiba has a good sense of hearing right? Like a dog's?"

"Y-Yeah, but what's that got to do with anything?" she asked, finally snapping out of it.

Naruto grinned, stepped closer to Kiba (with Sakura following, passing Link), and pulled a small whistle out of his pocket, while Link moved out of their way. "Then this dog whistle should help." He took a deep breath, lifted the whistle up to his mouth and blew with all his might. Akamaru's ears perked up and he started barking immediately, along with all the dogs in the neighborhood. Kiba instantly "woke up" and tried to calm Akamaru down.

"It worked!" Naruto shouted and he turned back and smiled at Link. Sakura did likewise.

But when they opened their eyes, Link wasn't standing up anymore. They looked down, and saw him lying with his back on the ground, with his eyes squeezed shut, hands clamped firmly over his ears.

_Ears ringing, head pounding, vision swimming, balance long gone. I can only hope my pride survived intact, since it seems like the rest of me didn't._ Link thought. _Did that ear splitting sound really come from a tiny whistle!?_ He tried to open his eyes, but instantly shut them when he found the sky green. Once he felt he had some balance, he slowly sat up and opened his eyes. It was a little blurry at first, but he could make out Naruto's orange jump suit and Sakura's pink…dress. He tried to force a smile, but it came out more like a grimace. He took his hands off his ears, which he would soon regret.

Kiba, finally getting Akamaru to stop barking, turned his attention to Naruto. "Hey, what was that for!?" he barked angrily.

Neither of them were listening.

"Did…did Link just hear a **dog** whistle?" Sakura asked. Kiba forgot his rage a second and listened with interest.

"Only one way to find out." Naruto replied with a small smirk. He lifted the whistle to his mouth again and blew.

Link snapped back down to the ground and his hands flew back up to his ears at the same time. This time, he rolled onto his right side and pulled his legs close to his chest, grimacing the entire time.

Sakura grabbed the whistle from Naruto when he did this, since his eyes were closed and he couldn't see Link go into a fetal position. Now they all stared in disbelief at Link. Akamaru started barking again, so Kiba had to draw his attention away from them and to getting Akamaru to shut up. So now Naruto and Sakura are staring disbelieving.

"How can he hear the dog whistle? Aren't dogs supposed to be the only thing that can hear it?" Naruto asked.

"I think it's…his ears." Sakura said. They both just stared at Link some more.

_I'm going to need ear plugs._ Link thought painfully.

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OK, some quick little disclaimers. The dog whistle idea came from Hail-NekoYasha and her comic Ultrasonic Pain. The unison thing idea was from RedLotusNin and her fanfic High School for Idiots.

Teral: Why didn't you put those at the beginning with the _other_ disclaimer?

Because anyone that had read those two things would have an unfair advantage.

Teral: You just like keeping secrets.

Laret: Read and review please!


	7. Chapter 7

Dear god, I don't have anything to say!

Teral: Then do us all a favor and **shut the hell up!**

Laret: albino chocobo only owns the idea and the flow of this particular story. Nothing more.

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Kiba had to go home to check on how his family's dogs were reacting to the dog whistle. Unfortunately, Link was still curled up on the ground, so he couldn't be properly introduced. After a long while, Link could stand up while leaning heavily on Naruto. He had a splitting headache, but that was slowly getting better.

It was dark now. Link was sitting on his bed and Naruto was fast asleep snoring in the other room. Earlier, Naruto had thought Link was asleep, so he had dinner and went right to bed. Link swung his legs over the side of the bed and his thoughts were interrupted by a child-like voice.

"So, the great warrior and hero, who has felled many monsters, succumbs to a whistle." Link's shadow jumps right off the floor and hovers in front of him in the shape of an imp-like creature. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen." It said with a sneer.

"Who asked you, Midna?" he said angrily looking away.

"Now, now, don't be so cross." Midna said as she hovered to his head, crossed her arms on the top of his head and put her chin down on her arms in a way that they were both facing the same direction.

"I know you heard it too, don't act like you didn't." Link retorted, standing up.

Midna released his head and only grinned in response. Then she returned to his shadow.

"You didn't answer." Link muttered as he walked to the door. Since he had slept last night, it would be a while until he got tired, so he decided to go someplace quiet to think (Naruto snores), one that was less stuffy. He remembered that Naruto locked the door and wondered if he should take the key.

"You're being watched," Midna said from his shadow, "you want to take the sneaky route?"

He thought for a while, then a mischievous smile crept across his face.

"Sure."

Out of his shadow came a large hand that seemed to be outlined in orange. The hand itself was also orange. Link stood there calmly as it grabbed him and pulled into his own shadow. Then it sped under the door and went as straight and fast as an arrow to a nearby lake.

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The ANBU agent that was watching was starting to get a little impatient. He was waiting for Link to exit the apartment. He didn't notice the shadow since it stayed out of sight. He fingered the dog whistle the Hokage told him to use if Link started trouble. He jumped to the window and looked inside and wasn't prepared for what he found: nothing.

"Gone…" he breathed.

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When they arrived at the lake, Link's shadow spit him out and he flopped onto the ground.

"Watch that first step, it's a doosy." Midna snickered from the shadow.

Link just ignored her and sat with his back against a tree, enjoying the peace. The crescent moon illuminated the lake and the surrounding forest in a soft glow. A light breeze blew through, carrying the scent of flowers.

Then he felt a sharp pain in his left hand like someone had dug a pin head into it. He winced and loosened the arm guard on his left forearm.

Midna came back out of his shadow, with a look of concern on her face. "Let me see it." She said.

"You can't help it." He said while slipping off the guard.

"Let me see it." She repeated, more forcefully this time.

Link sighed and pulled off the glove that was covering his left hand and some of his arm. The Triforce insignia on the back of his hand was slightly glowing. _It's never done that before._ Link thought, raising it to eye level. Midna instantly backed away when it was uncovered. Link weakly chuckled, and Midna started…pouting?

"Fine," she said, "you were right. I can't help with that. Now can you please recover it?"

"Yes your majesty." He replied, sarcasm evident in his voice. He pulled his glove and guard back on and looked up at the sky. Then his eyes widened with shock and disbelief.

"Midna," he said, barely above a whisper, "look."

"What?" she asked, looking up at the sky. "It's the night sky. So what?"

"No, no, look closer. See that it's tainted with a little bit of pink?"

Now it was Midna's turn to stare unbelieving at the sky, mouth agape.

"But, that's impossible! The sun set hours ago! How can there still be some traces of twili—" Midna stopped mid sentence, and looked back down to Link's face. He had that serious look on, one of the faces the kids here haven't—and hopefully will never—see.

"There's no mistake. It must be a small bit of twilight that **he** carries with him.** He** must have figured out how we got here and followed us." Link said, his tone grave. "We can only hope **he** hasn't decided to add this place to his empire."

The sky started to gain more of a pink and orange color at an alarming rate. Midna dove back into Link's shadow, and Link jumped up and put his hand on his sword hilt. He felt a presence coming from the forest and dove into the small grove behind him. Small, black particles started floating about, drifting lazily upward. What had been shrouded in shadow only moments ago was now lit by an eerie twilight.

"He's coming." Link said unnecessarily.

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Little Sakura just so happened to be walking by. She was daydreaming about Link during her midnight stroll. She practically slapped herself when she saw him all alone by the lake. She didn't see the shadow floating near him, notice that he was talking to that shadow, or see his expression. She ran down the hill (picturing how romantic it is) and was about to call out to him when he dove into the forest so fast she almost didn't see it. She paused for a second, then quickened her pace and ran closer to the ground.

_Link,_ she thought, _what's wrong?_

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(evil laugh) Cliffhangar!!!!

Teral: It's not like it'll stay that way for long, you're working on 11 now anyway.

Who says I'll update again?

Teral: I have trained you well.

Laret: Please read and review! Flames will be used to keep ac away from the dark side!

Far too late for that, Laret. Far too late...


	8. Chapter 8

With you here, I'll never be able to write K, will I?

Teral: It's not like you even want to write about bunnies and unicorns and rainbows.

Point taken.

Teral: albino chocobo...well, if ac _did_ own this, why would it be on this site, hmmmmmm?

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Sakura plunged through the bushes and came right to a blade tip, inches from her face. She stopped dead in her tracks, and looked, frightened, up the sword to the owner. Link was holding the sword, and when he saw Sakura he looked surprised and instantly lowered his sword. He reached down, grabbed her hand, and lifted her up to a standing position. She was shuddering from nearly being impaled by his sword. Then she realized it was the first good look she had of his sword, and stared at it.

The blade itself was simple, but much longer than the swords ninja use and didn't look like a samurai's sword. The blade is flat on top with sloping sides that widen towards the tip. The hilt was purple and had a small yellow jewel on it that slightly overlapped the blade. The hilt had two "wings" coming off the sides. The blade itself shone with a mysterious power, and on it near the hilt there was a small insignia. It was a triangle divided into four smaller triangles; three pointing towards the blade's tip, one towards the hilt. Sakura just stood there staring at it.

_Oh boy,_ Link thought, _how am I going to snap her out of it? With any luck, she'll take notice of her surroundings, before the situation worsens._

Sakura came to when a black particle drifted right in front of her face.

"W-W-What is that!?" she exclaimed, taking a few steps back. She watched it as it floated up into the sky and first noticed that it was no longer black littered with points of light; it was a sickening bright yellow and the clouds were black blotches against it. The forest around them was bathed in twilight. Her head snapped back down when she heard Link grunt and clenched his (right) hand over his tunic where his heart was. He had a pained expression.

"Link, what's wrong?" she asked, stepping closer as he sunk down onto his knees. The air seemed to grow thinner, which made it harder to breathe. She didn't know what it meant. It meant all of the twilight's power was focused on Link, who was desperately trying not to be affected by it.

Then she felt a presence materialize—no, not appear, materialize--, and she turned to look at it. Whatever it was wore a pointed helmet and black robes with turquoise markings on it. Some strips of cloth dangled off of the too long sleeves. There was a piece of armor going from one shoulder across the chest to the other shoulder, and in its center was a small red gem. Link instantly stood when it appeared. Then it spoke, in that same, old tongue that Link speaks and Sakura couldn't guess what it was saying.

"So this is where you were hiding. I must thank you for leading me here." It did a mock bow.

_Well, you're not welcome,_ Link thought gritting his teeth. "Now that you've come here and seen all there is to see, how about you leave?" Link asked, trying to resist the urge to run forward and make him hang limp on his sword.

"Why yes, I have seen the sights, and I have many good plans for this place. Unfortunately for you," he said as two swords slipped out from underneath his sleeve, "a boy in a green tunic carrying a mythic blade is not in my plans for this place. Guess I'll just have to make you," he vanishes, "disappear!"

"Sorry, Zant," he said as he pulled Sakura closer to him (causing her to blush) and less than one second after Zant appeared with one of his swords extended in the empty space where Sakura stood a moment ago, "but I'm going to have to wreck that future of yours." He swung his sword towards Zant, but only sliced air where Zant once stood.

_He teleported __**again**,_Link thought,_ how many times has he caught me off guard with that?_

Zant appeared behind Link and thrust his sword, aiming for his heart. Link knelt at the last second, but Zant's sword caught his shoulder. Clenching his teeth, Link brought his sword around in a sweeping motion to behind him, turning partly around, to whack Zant, who had teleported again.

Such was the pattern. Zant would appear, attack, and disappear before Link could hit him. His blood was starting to accumulate in a small pool by his feet, with some sweat mingling with it as well.

Sakura, who had been held really close to Link and blushing furiously the entire time, was gradually getting more and more frightened of getting stabbed. One thing that really scared her silly was his eyes. Those once kind, proud blue eyes were now laden with hate and the desire to kill. She would have thought of wiggling loose, if she wasn't enjoying being that close to Link. And even if she tried, Link wasn't going to let her go. Zant would probably grab her and use her as a hostage or human shield or something.

_If I could get him to stop for one second,_ Link thought, _my sword will be able to connect. I only see one way to make him stop though, and I don't like it._

Zant had just disappeared. _It's now or never!_ Link grabbed Sakura's dress with his right hand with which he had been shielding her, ignoring her sudden fluster. He flung her as hard as he could into the bushes. Zant immediately appeared behind Link, sword set to impale his left shoulder, which would render his sword arm useless. Link spun around, and, instead of impaling the left shoulder, Zant impaled the right. _Now!_ Link swung his sword before Zant could wrench himself free, and Zant's blackened blood spilled over the ground. Grunting, Zant disappeared again, but didn't reappear. His voice floated over the trees.

"Impressive. I would expect nothing less from the Hero of Time's reincarnation. However, now that you have that wound, the twilight has a place to slip through your defenses. And once it's done with you, it's power will spread across the entire village!"

_He's right,_ Link thought falling to his knees,_ I can already feel…No time for that! I have to hurry and heal this wound!_

Sakura, who was lying confused in the bushes, watched as Link placed his left hand over his shoulder wound. A small glow emitted from beneath his hand and the wound, slowly, started healing itself.

_So that's how he was able to heal so fast, _she thought. She tentatively crawled out from the bushes and towards Link. His wound was healed and she was almost there when the air suddenly thinned again. Link almost instantly doubled over and placed his hands on the ground. He was breathing heavily and sweat was dripping down his face onto the ground. Sakura would never forget the sounds that came after; the sound of bones and flesh being reshaped, and the howl of a wolf.

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Teral: You love torturing your characters, don't you?

Pretty much. And yes, thank you all for noticing! I gave Link his magic back! Twilight Princess would've been cooler with magic, and I hated its absence, so it's back!

Teral: And ac took Zant's evil meter and kicked it up about three notches.

And I made Sakura almost totally useless! Just because I hate her. Well, the pre-Shippuden her, anyway.

Teral: And ac hates Sasuke. Hey, have you seen Laret anywhere?

Please read and review! Flames will be used to burn Sakura to death!


	9. Chapter 9

Teral: (too busy laughing evilly)

You guys wanna know what she's laughing about? Read on!

Laret: The disclaimer comes first! albino chocobo owns nothing except for the idea.

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"Link," Sakura gasped because the air was so thin, "what's wrong?"

He didn't respond; it's not like he could. The air around him was thick with the twilight's power and it looked like a dark haze. His left hand started pounding in tune with his heart beat.

Then the transformation and a cracking noise began. His finger nails grew longer and his hands balled themselves into fists. His gloves turned white and so did his boots, which looked like they were constricting his ankles. His tunic and pants (if they are pants) tightened around him and turned dark brown except for a small trail down his spine that remained green. His legs shortened and straightened at the same time, and a white streak ran down his sides. A tail peeked out from between his legs that was dark green on top and white beneath.

But Sakura barely noticed all this since she was watching Link's face. His mouth and nose elongated as if his face was made of rubber. His nose turned black and a green streak appeared from his nose up the nose ridge and covered his forehead. Link's ears moved to the top of his head and widened. All the ridges in his ears were gone and they had that same green on their backs. The earrings were still attached, and his hat turned into…fur!? Now that she looked closer, she saw Link was entirely covered in fur! Sakura started trembling when Link opened his mouth to breathe; there were now rows of sharp teeth instead of regular human teeth. When the transformation was over where Link once knelt was a wolf; proud, majestic, and…downright creepy.

One of the wolf's ears perked and it turned its head to stare directly at Sakura, who was frozen in terror. It moved its left foreleg into view by stepping towards, accompanied by the soft clinking of chains. Sakura broke from her terror induced trance long enough to look at the shackle clamped firmly onto the left foreleg, with the remains of a chain dangling off of it.

The wolf took another step towards her, and panic took over. She did a long, earsplitting scream, then fainted. The wolf stood there blinking in confusion, then watched as the girl's form faded away, replaced by a small turquoise flame.

"Now then," the voice came from the wolf's back, "let's get started, shall we?"

The wolf growled, turned around, and trotted out of the clearing, being careful not to step in blood.

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Sakura slowly came to.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, where am I?" she asked herself.

Then she remembered Zant, the sword fight, and Link turning into a wolf. Then she started shivering with insecurity.

"There's no way Link could've transformed like that. Yeah, that's right. It's impossible. After all, the air got really thin, I bet I just passed out from lack of oxygen and dreamt the whole thing. Yep, that's what happened." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. Her voice was quivering from fear, shock, or a combination of the two.

Then she heard a wolf howl, somewhere off in the distance. She jumped with fright, then dashed off through the woods in the direction of Naruto's apartment.

_I'll just do a quick check to make sure Link is at Naruto's place, _she thought.

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Naruto yawned sleepily. He didn't know what woke him up, but his body tingled with an odd sensation. He glanced at his clock.

_3 a.m.,_ he thought,_ might as well get up._

He jumped off his bed, lazily noting the ground was a lot closer than usual. He stretched himself out, then walked over to the cupboard.

_Eh, _he thought_, since when was the cupboard knob up so high?_

A pounding at the door pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Naruto? Naruto, wake up and open the door!" Sakura's angry voice demanded from the other side.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he called back, heading towards the door. "Where's the fire?" Sakura just kept pounding away.

"Naruto wake up! Tell me that Link's in there!" she shouted.

"Sakura! I'm awake, so stop telling me to wake up!" Naruto shouted at the door. He jumped up onto the counter right by the door and looked through the peep hole. Sakura was standing outside, pounding on the door, tears streaming down her face, and looked very scared.

_Aw, sweet, _Naruto thought,_ this will be just like the movies! I'll be her hero in this dark hour and comfort her! _Naruto continued thinking about his little fantasy. The pounding abruptly stopped, and he looked through the peep hole again. Sakura was just standing there, then she took a deep breath.

**"Naruto wake your lazy butt up and open the door!"** she shouted at the top of her lungs.

"I'm awake!" Naruto shouted back and reached for his keys. He knew they were right there, but he couldn't reach them. Puzzled, he looked down at his hand and saw a small black paw.

"What the hell!?" Naruto shouted. He looked back through the peep hole, and saw Sakura standing there and wiping the tears off her face. He also noticed she seemed to shine a blue-ish color.

"I should have known better than to try to wake Naruto up…" her voice trailed off as she clasped her hands together by her heart. Then she instantly brightened. "Sasuke! Sasuke's bound to wake up!"

"No no no no no, Sakura-chan, I'm up! Don't go to that pretty boy!" Naruto shouted to no avail. Sakura couldn't hear him as she ran off to Sasuke's house.

"No! Sakura, don't—" Naruto started shouting as he fell off the counter. He looked down at his hands that had been transformed into little black paws.

_What does the rest of me look like?_ Naruto thought suddenly.

He ran back to his room, slightly skidding on the wood floors, noticing that he was running on all fours. When he got back in his room, there was a small fox cub in his closet. It looked like any ordinary fox cub (with the tip of its tail black, black paws, fire red fur, and white belly) except that its eyes were blue and intelligent and that there was a trail of orange from his nose up past his forehead and down its spine and even onto the tail.

Naruto screamed, because he realized he was looking into a mirror.

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Teral: ac loves toturing the characters!

I swear I've mentally scared Sakura for life, and I'm loving every minute of it!

Laret: Grow up you two. _Please?_

Teral & ac: Not on your life.

Laret: Please read and review!


	10. Chapter 10

(rolling on the floor laughing)

Laret: What's wrong with albino chocobo?

Teral: ac can't get over turning Naruto into a fox.

Laret: Ah, even though that was pretty much a last minute thing to lengthen the story.

Hey!

Laret: albino chocobo does not own Naruto or Zelda.

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"W-What the--! How did this happen!?" Naruto shouted looking himself all over to make sure the mirror was lying. It wasn't.

"When did that get there!?" he exclaimed glaring slightly with curiosity at his tail. The next thing he knew he was laying on his side on the floor with the tail clamped firmly in his mouth.

"Yowch!" he barked and let go of his tail. _How did I do that? Why did I do that?_ He questioned himself. He sat there for a few minutes without an answer.

"I don't have time to figure this out!" he said impatiently, "I have to go find Sakura!"

He ran over to the front door. _This isn't going to work._ He thought miserably looking at how high up the doorknob was and remembering it was still locked. He ran back to his room, jumped onto his bed and from there to the windowsill. He started fussing with the lock as best as he could with his nose. After a while, he heard a satisfying click and he slid the window open. He climbed out onto the ledge, and pushed the window almost closed.

He jumped down to the ground below and started running after Sakura when he noticed how dark everything was. It seemed like the only part that was lit was right in front of him, but he could still find his way around. And the part that was lit looked like it was lit with a blue light.

_Wait, didn't Sakura say something about Link? _He thought suddenly, _I didn't really look, but I think Link is still asleep. I bet he's going to be pretty confused when he wakes up and sees everything so weird. Or is this how he normally sees things? _He was still mulling that thought over when he caught up to Sakura.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" he asked still running. Sakura paid no attention to him. _Why can't you hear me? _He fumed in his head. Sakura started mumbling, and Naruto listened closer to hear what she was saying.

"…there's no way he did that. But then why didn't he open the door when I knocked? I can understand why Naruto wouldn't open it, sure, but Link doesn't seem to be a heavy sleeper."—_Hey, you're right!_ Naruto thought—"Pull yourself together, Sakura, he probably went out for a walk and fell asleep under a tree somewhere. There's no way he turned into a—" she cut herself off and shook her head violently"—Don't go there."

"Turned into a what?" Naruto yelled as he went to tackle her legs. He went right through them and hit the ground. _Wha-wha-wha-what just happened??_ was all he could think. Sakura kept moving as if she didn't feel anything. Naruto shook his head, picked himself up and ran after Sakura. She started mumbling to herself again, but Naruto stopped listening when she started talking about how Sasuke knew everything.

lllllllll

Sasuke woke to the sound of Sakura's annoying yelling and banging on the door. _Why can't she just sleep like normal people?_ He thought irritably as he got up and walked to the door. When he opened it, a very stressed Sakura ran to and hugged him (leech-like).

"Oh thank god you're up, Sasuke," she said between sobs, "First Link disappears, then Naruto won't answer the door—I don't know what I'd do if, if-" the sobs overtook her and she just stood there crying for awhile.

"Ok, ok calm down, and tell me what happened." Sasuke said leading her into the house. He thought he saw a quick flash of red, but when he looked back all he saw was an empty street.

When they were in the dining room and Sakura calmed down a bit, she told Sasuke everything that happened not too long ago; the sky turning funky, the fight with the mysterious man, and her passing out. She convinced herself that Link never turned into a wolf, so she didn't tell Sasuke.

"When I went to Naruto's place to make sure Link was there, neither of them answered, so I came here..." her voice trailed off.

_So that's what happened._ Even if it for only a second, Sasuke could've sworn someone just said his thoughts. He looked around the room to try to find the source of the voice, but he couldn't. Sakura didn't seem to notice; she was just talking about something non-important.

He didn't have long to contemplate it, though, when a small black thing came crashing into the house through the window. It looked like a small bird, except instead of feathers it had black leathery skin, pterodactyl-like wings, and no head. It looked like its eye, or eyes since you can't really tell, were inside the throat. The creature's spine and other bones were visible underneath the skin (not transparent skin, think starved animal), and it made a small, trumpet-like noises.

Sakura's response to this strange creature was to scream her head off, which attracted its attention. Sasuke's response was to jump up, dash in front of Sakura (knocking the table over in the progress) and tell her to get back. He pulled a kunai out of his shuriken holster and held it in front of him in a defensive stance. The creature kept making its trumpet sounds and steadily flapped its way closer to the two ninja.

Then something truly peculiar happened. When it got closer, it fell to the ground with its wings limp and black ooze dripped out. It stopped falling when it neared the ground and started swerving back and forth rapidly. Then, it fell backwards, hit the floor, and, with a _paff,_ exploded into black particles with a trail of pink smoke, both of which quickly vanished.

Sakura and Sasuke stood there in stunned silence for a few moments, neither daring to move, both trying to understand what happened. They both didn't notice a small distortion jump out the window.

llllllll

"Why does this place have to be so darn big?" Midna asked, loosing her patience. "This place is bigger than Castle Town, for Pete's sake!"

"Castle Town wasn't very big, Midna," Link said, "and what happened to your oh-so-grand sense of direction? Admit it, you're lost."

"I am not lost! If I'm lost, you're lost." Midna retorted, then said with a sly look, "You're not lost, are you, Puppy?"

"Of course I'm not lost and **will you stop calling me Puppy**!?" Link all but yelled. "I'm a wolf, got it?! A wolf!"

"Sure you are…Puppy." She said with a smirk.

Link silently fumed while he walked up to a signpost against a fence at a T intersection. He looked up at the signs and thought with exasperation, _Pretty shapes, but it sure would help if I could read it!_ He turned his head up to look at Midna. "Midna! You're more book studied, what does it say?"

"How in the world should I know!? I have no clue what language this is!"

"Here's your clue: this signpost!"

"I need a better clue, Puppy!"

"I told you to stop calling me Puppy!" Link growled warningly.

"Whatever. I say we go left!" she called out importantly.

"Then I'm going right." Link said as he turned to his right and started walking.

"Hey! I said left!"

"Then sit facing backwards and you'll be going left!"

Midna just growled at him, then she 'hmphed' and turned her head away.

"Just make sure you kill all the monsters before anyone wakes up!"

Link just rolled his eyes in agreement while continuing down the path.

llllllll

That last scene with Link and Midna was just for fun.

Teral: And that's the last of the prewritten stuff for this story! Now shoo people.

No! That's not true! I'm working on 11 even as we speak! Don't leave!

Laret: Please read and review!


	11. Chapter 11

Ha! That's fifty bucks you owe me!

Teral: (grumbles)Fine...

Laret: You guys aren't betting again, are you?

Sure are!

Laret: Well, what was it about this time?

Teral: I said ac wouldn't be able to finish 11 by today.

Oh yee of little faith.

Laret: albino chocobo owns nothing but the plot.

lllllll

"Blegh! That thing tasted **so** bad!" Naruto said while he stuck his tongue out as far as it could. "No amount of Listerine will **ever** make this taste go away!"

He was currently walking away from the Uchiha mansion after overhearing Sakura and Sasuke's talk. And let's not forget that oh-so-tasty black bird thing that happened to crash through the window.

"At least now I have a better idea of what's going on. But, Sakura didn't say anything about Link turning into anything…" he mused to himself, not taking any notice to where his feet—excuse me, _paws_—were leading him. _I didn't get to play knight either,_ he thought miserably, totally shattering his fantasy from earlier.

He continued his meandering pace down who-knows-what street when he heard something. It was really soft, so he couldn't tell what it was instantly. He stopped walking, stood completely still, closed his eyes and slightly lowered his head.

_Cl-cl-clink…cl-cl-clink…cl-cl-clink…_

He kept hearing those soft clinking noises while thinking(so hard he thought his head would burst), trying to match the object to the sound. Eventually, in his mind's eye he saw a chain moving in time with the sound. Fear struck as he bounded back into reality.

_Someone…or something it headed my way! And they have chains! Oh crap, what am I gonna do, what am I gonna do, what am I gonna do…_ and thus was his train of thought, repeating the same phrase like a broken record. _I know! I'll do what every ninja would do!...Hide!_

Unfortunately, he never got to put his plan into action. Because just then, a grey and white blur bounded around the corner, and Naruto, forgetting he stopped at the corner, got bowled over by the mass of fur. Naruto and the not-quite-so-blurry-anymore blur rolled down the street a bit. Our fox-boy kept his eyes screwed shut until he felt his world stop spinning. When it did, he felt he was on something warm and fuzzy.

He slowly opened his azure eyes to see the same eyes staring back at him. He wasn't looking in the mirror, though, since the head they were attached to was grey with a line of green running up from the nose. Then, he realized he was on the other animal's chest…and they were almost kissing. He reflexively clenched his fists at the memory, except that they were paws and had claws which dug into the other's chest.

"Ow! Hey, what was that for?" it, just then found out to be a he, exclaimed. He tried to gently shake the smaller of the two off. Naruto got the note and jumped off quickly. He looked back and saw that the thing he landed on was a wolf that was mostly grey with a sort of streamlined look. The wolf rolled so that his back was to Naruto and started looking for where the claw marks were. The fox noticed along its spine was a green line opposed to his orange.

"Alright you!" Naruto shouted, instinctively making his fur stand on end. The wolf stopped searching and lazily looked over where its shoulder would be. "I want answers and you're not leaving until I get them!"

The wolf seemed to frown(it's always hard to tell) and pick itself up off the ground.

"One: I could kick your butt twice before you even knew what hit you," the wolf stated in an oddly familiar voice. "Two: I'll be asking some questions of my own. And three," here the wolf paused, then seemed to smile, "fire away!"

"Okayyy," Naruto said, who was a bit taken back by the quick mood swing, "Who are you?"

"I am exactly as I seem. Next." He said in a bored tone as he flopped down into a laying position; his tail lightly hitting the ground.

_He's messing with me. _"What's your name?"

"Names aren't important."

"C'mon, tell me!"

"You first."

"Fine! I'm Naruto! Happy!? Now tell me yours!"

After hearing his name, the wolf's ears perked and his tail stopped in mid-air. He seemed to frown in a pensive gesture.

"I'm…oh, just call me Colin."

_He's good at lying._ Naruto thought. He was just about to ask his next question when _Colin_ beat him to it.

"Why are you a fox?"

Naruto, being caught off guard, and not really knowing why,was only about to say one thing. "Huh?"

"Why are you a fox and not a spirit?"

"Why would I be a spirit? No one around here is."

"Relax and look over there." Here the wolf motioned with its head over to a tree. Naruto looked over, but only saw a bird in the branch.

"What? It's just a bird."

"You're not listening," _Colin_ sighed. "You're using your senses too much, like you don't want to be caught off guard or something. Calm down, give your senses a break and look again."

Naruto was beginning to get annoyed, but decided to try it. He closed his eyes and tried to relax. When he opened them again, everything was a lot brighter.

"Whoa," he said in complete awe. The sky was no longer pitch black with small points of lights—it was now pink and yellow and red and looked like it was on fire!

"Ahem," the wolf cleared its throat to get his attention. When he had it, he motioned back to the tree. Naruto looked back over to it, and where the bird once was was a small blue flame.

"Whoa! What happened to the bird!?"

"Aside from turning into a spirit, but not just now, absolutely nothing. It probably doesn't even know it's a spirit. And to them, anyone here, we are the spirits." The wolf said calmly and slowly, as if explaining it to a small child. Naruto was currently freaking out.

"But I can't die yet! I have to become—"

"You didn't die," he interrupted.

"But you said I'm a spirit!"

"No, I said that to the spirits we're _like_ spirits—meaning that they can't see, touch, speak or even hear us, but we _can._"

"…Whut?"

"Nevermind," the wolf growled irritably, "all you need to know is that we can't interfere with them and vice versa. Now," he stepped closer to Naruto threateningly, which caused the latter to instinctively take a step back, "answer my question: Why aren't you a spirit?"

"How should I know!?"

"Wrong," he said decisively, "if anything, you would be the only one to know. Something that makes you different, makes you stand out in the crowd. That is the reason you aren't a spirit." The wolf then cocked his head and said with a crooked smile, "Feel like sharing?"

_What's this guy getting at?_ Naruto thought with irritation. _Something that makes me different? Well, I'm going to be the Hokage! I have to be stronger than everyone else! Yeah! That'll work!_

Naruto was about to start his usual "I'm gonna be the Hokage!" monologue when "Colin" interrupted him again.

"You may want to think about your answer very carefully. Otherwise," the wolf's voice fell and a shadow crossed his face, "I may think you're a monster sent to kill me, and I cannot, and will not, die yet."

Naruto audibly gulped at the senior fighter's threat because he knew the wolf before him would not hesitate to make good on it.

lllllll

This is more of my cup of tea, fellow readers.

Teral: Yeah. You just _love_ tension. But, that is the last, and I mean **last**, of the prewritten stuff for this story. Don't be surprised if the next update is two weeks from now.

Wanna bet?

Laret: Read and review please! More reviews equals more motivation equals sooner updates!

Equals more money for me! Heh heh.


	12. Chapter 12

This one's...short. Gomen!

Teral: Baka! What if they don't know what gomen means!?

Oh, right. Sorry! And yes, people, I write slowly. This one got a bit rushed and I sorta ran out of stuff to say.

Teral: That's a lie and you know it.

Aghhh! Nigero! (By the way, that means 'run away')

(at) Mr. Who: You're right, he isn't. I didn't like that temper tantrum near the end, so I kicked his evil meter up at least 3 notches. He'll thank me for that later, and if not, he can shove it out his ear! And, to be honest, Rinko is just some random dude I needed. He may not even make it back in here.

Laret: albino chocobo owns absolutely nothing in this...yet.

* * *

Naruto started casting about wildly in his head, looking for a suitable reason to pacify the wolf in front of him. However, no matter how much he tried, it all came back to the same thought: I'm gonna die. 

A quiet snickering broke into his thoughts. But, every time he looked up, the wolf sat stony faced. Until—

"Snrrrrrrrrrt, bhahahahahahaha! I can't believe you fell for that!" The wolf exclaimed, literally rolling on the ground from laughter. Naruto, on the other hand, turned a deep shade of crimson even though it can't be seen under his fur. The wolf eventually got over his laughing fit and stood up rubbing his eyes with one of his paws.

"Hee hee, ho-ok, I'm better now. Don't worry about not knowing why you're not a spirit; I had to have someone else tell me the first time. But seriously, as soon as you find out, tell me, ok?" The wolf got up, then started walking away.

"H-Hey! Wait up!" Naruto called as he ran to catch up with him. After he had adjusted to the wolf's walking pace, he started firing off questions. "What do you mean the 'first time'?"

"Hmmm, well I've turned into a wolf about…I don't know, a lot of times. I lost track when I bumped into a crystal that can turn me into one."

"Wow," Naruto said with his eyes alight with wonder, "I didn't think something with that much power existed. Do you still have it?"

"Yes and no. I have to have someone to hold onto it for me since it covers me in fur whenever I touch it. And besides, the reason I'm a wolf and not clueless like that person," he motioned with his head to a spirit flame they were passing, "has a lot more power than the crystal."

"So, why aren't you a spirit?"

The wolf flashed a grin at him then said, "When you figure out your reason, I'll tell you mine."

"Hey no fair!"

"Life isn't fair, Naruto."

"Then, at least tell me your real name!"

The wolf stopped walking. Naruto walk forward a few more steps, then turned back to look at him. The wolf grinned sheepishly.

"Guess I'm not a good liar, huh? All right, but you'll have to keep it most of what I've said secret after the Twilight leaves."

Naruto nodded, slightly unsure of what he was getting into. The wolf lowered his head and sighed, then lifted it proudly and looked straight into Naruto's eyes.

"My name is Link."

Naruto just stood there in a daze for a second, but when he snapped out of, it wasn't the only thing that snapped.

"Waitaminute! You're Link!? The swordsman!? The weird elf dude!? The nature freak!? The left-handed person!? Then how the heck are we even understanding each other!?"

Link was calmly nodding throughout the whole thing, even though he did flinch at some the names. To the last question, he simply said, "Animal language is universal."

"I have so many questions to ask you!"

"And they're all going to have to wait." Link interrupted. Naruto looked like he was going to retort, but Link cut him off again. "I know, I know, I have a lot of things to ask you too, but the people's well being comes first. They can see and interact with the monsters, but they won't be able to kill them."

"So, basically they can see everything but us?"

"Pretty much."

"That stinks! Who the hell thought that up!?"

"Yes, it does. But I don't make the rules, I'm just forced to follow them. And, I think I know who, and he is on my to kill list."

"Wait a second," Naruto said with a suspicious gleam in his eyes, "how do you know all this anyway?"

"Because fate is cruel," Link answered looking at the heavens. "Now, come on. We've wasted enough time. We have to kill the monsters before the villagers wake up, otherwise they'll put themselves in unnecessary danger." He said as he started walking.

"But," Naruto said, making Link turn back to face the fox, who paused uncertainly, "you don't even know these people. Why do you want to help them?"

Link took on a surprised look, then smiled kindly. "Because, even though I've only been here a few days, I've grown to love it."

Naruto thought that he saw the Sandaime in Link, even if only for a second. The thought gave him a bit of a jolt, but he shrugged it off and smiled lightly.

"Now, come on! We're burning Twilight!" Link cried enthusiastically.

"Right!" Naruto yelled excitedly as he started chasing after Link. "So, how do we get rid of this stuff?"

"Well," Link paused slowing down, "the other times Twilight covered a place, it first had to rob the Light Spirits of their light. Said light would be divided and placed into these annoying bugs that would scurry around near invisibly. Kill the bug and the light would be released, which we would then need to collect all the pieces, return the Light Spirit to its former shining glory, and the Twilight would be forced to recede."

Link looked back and noted Naruto's blank look.

"You've…never heard of a Light Spirit, have you?"

"Nope."

"Our job just got a whole lot harder, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, it probably did."

* * *

Ok, fellow fic writers, I admit it: I need your help. 

Teral: ac was gonna say "ficers", but that doesn't sound quite right. And, good to know you're finally getting professional help for your mentality.

(stares at Teral) I'm not crazy. I meant the story.

Teral: Excuses, excuses, sometimes it seems the world runs on excuses!

Ack! Now we need another disclaimer! Ahem, that was from Dr. Suess...and I probably butchered his name, but anywho! Can someone _please_ tell me what a good light source for Konoha would be in the place of a Light Spirit? Please leave it in a review!

Laret: Please read _and_ review!


	13. Chapter 13

Teral: Go on, say it.

Ugh, fine. Sorry for taking so long to update this fic. I don't have any excuse… No wait, yeah, I do. The classic problem of—

Teral: How to get from point A to point B.

Basically. That, and my brain, the jumbled mass of incoherent thoughts that it is, decided to stop coming up with new ideas regarding this fic. I was able to knuckle, I mean, _persuade_ it to spew out an ending, so now I just have to link it all together…which is not one of my strong points.

Teral: And don't worry. So long as I'm around, I'll be sure to make sure this gets finished even if her health is the sacrifice.

Can't you just feel the love in here?

Laret: albinochocobo does not own Naruto or Zelda. Keep in mind that since, there is fighting and they are animals, there will be some at least slightly disturbing mental images at the beginning.

* * *

"Watch your tail!"

Naruto spun around and crunched down on the small mass of black tentacles that was trying to sneak up on him. It squeaked before popping like a balloon and joined its fallen comrades in… wherever they end up. Naruto gagged on the smell of sewers that the vermin always reeked of.

"How can you handle biting so much nasty stuff?" Naruto asked turning to look at the older fighter, who currently was ripping a wing off a deformed bat. Link looked back at the same time as the bat exploding, causing the wing in his mouth to vanish and his teeth to click shut.

"You get used to it after a while," he answered shrugging, "and besides, you haven't tasted nasty until you drink purple Choo jelly. That stuff eats the spoon."

Naruto sighed: the past hour or so had been a blur of Link trying to quickly explain exactly what they were supposed to kill, fighting, giving directions, fighting, complaining (actually, that just came from Naruto and went just about totally unnoticed), several attempts to start a real conversation (again, all by Naruto), and did I mention fighting?

"Hey, can't we take a break?" He called the same time as a black weed popped up in front of Link. He groaned, recognizing what this meant as Link looked back with a grin on his face. When is this ever—

"Just one more, K? Then we'll take a break." Link said, turning back to face the newest threat. Naruto felt his ears perk up (_"A break! Finally!"_) as he bounded over to Link's side.

"Hey, batta batta," Link taunted, prowling closer to the Twili Baba. "Hey batta batta, hey batta batta." The overgrown plant swayed its head from side to side, watching him get closer, before shaking and lunging for him. Link expertly pushed himself backwards and out of range of the snapping head. As he landed, he tensed and swung his tail while shouting "Swing, batta!" When the Baba's head flew back from the hit, Naruto dashed to the stalk and with a quick _snap_ bit through its stem. The severed bulb head fell to the ground where it was promptly crushed by the jaw strength of a wolf.

Naruto slumped to the ground with a sigh and only winced in discomfort at the rock currently trying to pierce his stomach. But not having to fight gravity any more overruled that little voice that said he should move. He was only half listening when Link started mumbling to himself about… someone. He kept using 'she', so Naruto was correct in assuming it wasn't about him.

Link watched as Naruto slowly dropped off into dreamland and chuckled good naturedly. Truth be told, he was impressed with how long Naruto had been able to keep up with him. He had been thrown into a learn-as-you-go scenario as well, and he'd been more than happy to fill in all of the blanks for Naruto, but there simply wasn't enough time. It sure would have helped if Midna felt like sharing what was going on and not act like he was her property.

"Speaking of which, where is she, anyway?" Link muttered to himself. "Surely it can't take that long to do… whatever she wanted to do."

Midna had taken off shortly after their friendly spat at the T intersection. She had that look in her eye, and the smile she gave him when he asked where she was going could be nothing less than scheming. And whenever she got that look, Link had come to the conclusion that it always meant things weren't going to end well… for Link, anyway. One good example was when she told him to jump up the frozen waterfall, and he got swatted down by icicles when he was so close to the top. And it wasn't all powdered snow at the bottom, either. A strange zap coursed through the air, successfully knocking him out of his reverie, and caused most of his fur to stand on end until he forced it back down.

"But now isn't the time to dwell on the past." Link muttered dejectedly to himself. One ear quirked itself to Naruto's direction and, by the sound of snores, confirmed that he was fast asleep. The hackles on the back of his neck rose as he took a big breath.

Unlike previous howls that were fashioned into songs with three notes, this one was just one long note. Midna had said to howl when she released some of her magic so she could find him when he was done playing hero. Link ran out of breath and ended the melancholy note, hearing it echo throughout the village. The regular inhabitants shouldn't be able to hear it, but he couldn't help remembering a certain coyote that was in Kakariko…

All further speculation was halted as a little imp figure literally flew over the houses and came to hover in front of him.

"Jeez, what was up with the sad wolf-song? You could've at least tried to make it sound cheery like you do for that horse."

"How nice to see you too, Midna." Link forced through clenched teeth. "And what, pray tell, needed your attention so bad that you just had to abandon me without letting me in on your little secret?"

Midna just gave one of her all-knowing smirks before it melted into one you'd use to talk to a baby. "Aww, duzza whittle Puppy need his Mummy to pwotect him fwom da monstas unda his beddy-boo?"

Link's eye twitched.

"Dun worry, whittle Puppy," Midna continued, linking her hands behind her back and swinging them while she bent forward, "Aunty Midna will chase away dose bad, bad monstas."

_"Vengeance will be served."_ Link's face split into a predatory grin. "There enough room in your stroller for one more, _Aunty_?" The amused glint instantly left her eyes as Link swung his head back towards where Naruto was sleeping. "Cuz now you're the proud Aunt of a fox cub."

Midna just hovered, dumbfounded, closer to where the fox lay napping. Link stalked up next to her when she cried out exasperated, "Oh great! Someone else to babysit!"

"He's got your eyes." Link snickered.

Naruto chose then to wake up. The first thing he noticed was a peeved female imp glaring daggers at him, so he did the first two things that popped into his head: run and scream. Of course, given the fact that he was laying on the ground and foxes can't really scream, he just sorta yelped and jumped back.

"Actually, Einstein, he's got _your_ eyes." Midna snapped at Link. He snorted.

"Wha—! Who the heck are you!? _What_ the heck are you!" Naruto shouted from where he sat on his butt, pointing a black paw in Midna's direction.

"Noisy little brat, too." She mumbled while removing her hands away from her sensitive ears and directed the next comment at Link. "At least you know when to shut up."

"Naruto, this is Midna." Link said, dutifully ignoring her comment. "She's my… We're sort of partners."

"United by a common cause and that's it!" Midna said sternly when she saw Naruto's mouth open. It promptly clicked shut, proving that he was going to make fun of the two about it.

"But," Naruto eventually started, "if you guys are partners, then where were you when me and Link first met up?"

"Yeah, you never got around to answering that." Link sent a pointed glare in the imp's direction.

"Well, ignoring Naruto's bad grammar," the ninja-turned-fox bristled, "I found that this… place actually does have a Light Spring."

"A what?" Naruto asked the shell-shocked wolf. He was ignored.

Link blinked. "What? But, I thought the Light Spirits were made by the Goddesses, and they made the springs."

"Yeah, well, there's one here, okay?" Midna said defensively. "And I found it, so you guys follow me!"

"You mean 'go the way I point while I lounge on Link's back.'" Link said dryly as Midna plopped onto his back.

"Got it in one, Puppy."

"Hey!" Naruto ranted in the background. "Will someone please fill me in on whatever the heck 'Light Springs' and 'Goddesses' are!?"

"Oh, uh, I guess I forgot to tell you." Link said sheepishly. He was about to explain when Midna cut in.

"Light Springs are where Light Spirits reside, and the Goddesses made everything. Simple enough for you, Fuzz-Butt?"

Naruto looked like he was about to bite her head off, but she continued before he got the chance to. "Good. Now come on! If we don't hurry, the Twilight will just keep expanding until your world is completely covered!" She then impatiently dug her heels into Link's side, who dutifully ignored that too.

"Midna's right, Naruto." He said instead of paying attention to the now raging Midna on his back. "Time is of the utmost importance, and we're the only ones that can do anything about it."

"Okay, okay, you didn't have to go into lecture mode." Naruto muttered before turning to Midna. "Hey! Point the way, your Creepiness!"

"When this is all over, I'm gonna get you!" Midna shouted in rage, but pointed towards a house anyway. "That way, Fur-Brains! The fastest way is by rooftop!"

Both dogs ran to the house. Naruto focused his Chakra into his paws and ran up the side. When he got to the top, he smirked while thinking that he had finally outperformed Link. Midna suddenly popped up at the side of the building, and a grey blur followed less than a second after. The next thing he knew, Link was standing in front of him with Midna on his back. He didn't remember when his mouth fell open.

"Nice trick, Fuzz-Butt." Midna smirked from her perch. After Naruto snapped his mouth closed for the second time, she pointed "That way!"

And off they went. Having four legs made the pair go faster than normal, and they only slowed down when they tight-roped across the street. They worriedly scanned the street for people taking a midnight stroll about every three minutes. Thankfully, there were none.

Eventually, they hopped off from the rooftops and jogged a bit on foot. When they reached a large chain link fence, Midna stopped them. "It's in here."

Naruto's eyes went wide. He remembered this place; it was hard not to.

"The Forest of Death…"

* * *

I chose the one place no one suggested for the Spring. Yes, I know I'm evil. And that dialogue with Midna taunting Link was fun. The funny thing is, I can totally imagine Midna doing that sort of thing.

Teral: She felt bad about it taking so long for writer's block to blow over, so she made it twice as long. I don't see why she bothers, though…

Laret: Also, she would like to know if any of you read her other crossover. She's having a bit of trouble working out the kinks in the plot, and if you do read it, to please vote using the poll in her profile.

And for the record, banana soy milk smoothie is _good_. And, this is something that I wanted to add at the beginning, but kinda forgot about:

Link: Well, uh... man, fate sucks.

Naruto: Really? I just like taking peoples' predictions and shoving it in their faces.


	14. Chapter 14

Okay, I apologize for taking so long to update. You all already know that I've pretty much lost interest in this story, right? There was going to be another chapter, but somewhere along the line I just said screw it and decided to end it all with this chapter. Luckily enough for someone (since I'm not entirely sure if it's lucky for me or for you guys), the next chapter would have been the last, so I just slammed them both together and made one big chapter.

Looking back… I have to say this story sucked. (Sorry to those out there who think this was the best thing since color television.) I don't even think a major rewrite of the chapters would be able to save my opinion of it. I had a bloopers chapter planned, but I decided to scrap it since I'm trying to at least appear sane.

Now, this is my first time writing a fight scene, so please tell me how I do. I rather like how animalistic it turned out.

There will be some spoilers for Twilight Princess near the end, so I warn the very few people out there who haven't finished the game.

In any case, sit back and enjoy the final chapter of Twilit Konoha. Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

"Forest of Death?..." Midna trailed off with a thoughtful look before something seemed to click. "Hey! They got that from Death Mountain! We oughtta sue them!"

"Midna, we don't own Death Mountain, so how would we be able to sue?" Link pointed out.

"Uh, we could… we could… bring the Gorons here and have _them_ sue!" Link rolled his eyes at this.

"Anyway, you sound like you've been here before." He said casually to Naruto as he approached the fence.

"Yeah, this is where the second part of the Chuunin Exams were held." Naruto answered.

"What type of test can you take in a forest anyway?" Midna asked lazily from her seat. She had decided before to not ask about any traditions this place had, which she filed whatever the "Chuunin Exams" were under. Goddesses know her home has some weird customs.

"A survival test."

"Just in the forest?" She asked, surprised. "Must've been really easy to pass."

"No way!" Naruto shouted. "There's tons of animals in there that are huge! I would bet that tons of people died in there."

"So basically it's a graveyard with trees and stuff that tries to kill you." Link paused his search to smile ruefully. "Just like home."

"A little too much like home, if you ask me."

"But no one did, Midna."

"Puppy."

"Imp."

Naruto just stared at the two as they argued back and forth with hardly any emphasis and no raised voices, wondering if that could even be called arguing. "Anyway, Link, what are you looking for?"

"Hm? Oh, with huge fences like this, there's usually a soft spot in the earth where you can dig under them." Link explained before pawing and sniffing a place where part of the fence got pulled up.

Naruto stared dumbfounded and tried to think of a way to break to the swordsman-turned-wolf that there was a flaw in his theory that such a highly forbidden area was supposed to have such an obvious fault in its defensive barrier. Except he thought it… you know… without using smart words.

"Found it!" Midna cried happily as she jumped off Link's back and floated in the air. He quickly dug underneath the fence and squeezed to the other side while Midna showed off by disintegrating, flying through the holes in the fence, recombining herself on the other side and dropping back onto Link's back like she never left in the first place. She impatiently turned to Naruto. "Well, are you just gonna sit there gaping all day?"

After he picked his jaw off the ground and pulled himself under the fence, Naruto turned to Midna in awe. "How… how did you do that?"

She smirked. "I have my ways."

"In any case," Link said seriously, "from what Naruto told us, we'll have to get to the spring quickly. It's possible that the animals in here got turned into Twili monsters rather than spirits, and I don't think we want to have to fight everything that lives in here."

"So what are we waiting for, mutts? My sixtieth birthday?" Midna jabbed her small feet into Link's side. "Let's get going already!" Link rolled his eyes before sprinting off into the forest, Naruto at his heels.

And Naruto thought the forest was creepy at night. Most of the "path" they were following had turned an interesting shade of yellow while the odd light cast irregular shadows everywhere. The visible shrubbery had pink light spots on its leaves which contrasted with the usual dark green color. The tree trunks were turned gold in the pseudo sunset while the part hidden in shade remained the usual brown color. If it weren't for the light halos surrounding _everything_ that wasn't colored normally and made the eyes smart, it would look like something a kid would think of. Or a clown.

"Midna!" Link called, interrupting the silence. "Are you sure you're going to be able to point us in the right direction?"

"Don't worry," she assured, "the spring runoff turns into a river, so we can just follow that to its source!"

((A/N: Just for the record, I know the Forest of Death doesn't hold the start of the river that runs through it. But, for the purpose of this fic, it does. Live with it.))

Naruto opened his mouth to comment, but changed his mind about what to say when he noticed a familiar landmark. "Stop!"

Link obliged a little too quickly, causing the smaller of the two to crash into him. Midna, who had gone airborne to avoid rolling with the canines, snarled. "Why!?"

"I just saw the tower!" Naruto replied as soon as he untangled himself from Link. "We had to go there to pass the test, and I remember seeing some water flow under it."

It looked like someone flipped a switch when Midna's irritation turned to triumph. "That's right! I saw the river flow under that tower when I flew over the forest earlier. So, to the tower!" She then pointed to the right dramatically.

"Hey, Miss Lack of Direction," Link drawled, pointing in the opposite direction, "the tower's this way."

Midna made a small 'urk' before turning around and floating back onto Link's back, blushing all the way. When she noticed the cunning look both boys were giving her, she glared. "Not. A. Word."

They made it to the tower through strained silence and followed the river with no interruptions. All was well… okay, maybe not. All three were in varying states of unease at how peaceful their run through enemy territory has been. One very over-used line comes to mind, and who better to say it than—

"It's quiet," Midna commented slyly, "Tooooo quiet."

"Someone shoot me now," Link groaned.

Naruto chose wisely (for once) not to comment. Midna's comment had helped to ease the tension surrounding the trio. They continued their run on the pebbled riverbank until a large tree loomed before them. The river seemed to flow out of its base.

"That's where we're headed, boys," Midna claimed smugly. "See, this was easier than I thought it would be."

A thunderous crash shook the ground, and a large monster leapt out of the forest. It sailed clear across the river and landed right in front of them. It resembled an overgrown black tiger, but it was missing its head. Instead, a red something that looked like an eye glared at them from within the throat. The fur had been replaced with taut skin not unlike leather, and its skeleton was clearly visible. The twilit tiger gave an earsplitting roar and crouched, readying itself to pounce.

"Famous last words," Link muttered. Midna glared at him.

"Shut up and fight."

The mutated tiger sprung forward, and Link and Naruto took off in opposite directions. When it landed, Naruto jumped and used his claws to cling to its side. The big cat growled and twisted around to face the fox when he bit hard into its flesh. It lifted one of its large paws to swipe at him, but Link, who had darted around the beast, swiftly grabbed onto the foreleg. The tiger swung the leg with the wolf attached to it forcefully to the other side, and Link felt the momentum try to pry him off the leg. He crunched harder in response as the cat's bony tail whapped Naruto upside the head. Dazed, the red fox dropped off the feline.

The tiger, noticing less weight on its flank, tried a new tactic to deal with the wolf and pounced again. Link, realizing it wouldn't be fun to slam into the ground, hastily let go and twisted midair in an attempt to land on his feet. Naruto had shaken the cobwebs out of his head and was getting up when eighty-five pounds of wolf fell on top of him. As the monster spun around to face its prey, the two canines had righted themselves, drooling in an attempt to get the monster blood out of their mouths.

"All right," Midna, who was still miraculously perched on Link's back and cracking her knuckles, said. "Round two."

The dogs shot forward, and the abomination ran forward to meet them. This time, Midna sent a quick magic charge to it. The monster was caught off guard and tripped, diving into the ground with its belly exposed. Both blue-eyed beasts jumped onto the red-eyed beast and started tearing into it. Leather skin was ripped off, and Link began pulling out muscles, causing the tiger to roar in pain. Before Naruto could decide if that was overkill or not, the tiger surged onto its feet, and the canines were sent rolling on the pebbles, much to Midna's chagrin.

The tiger started circling them, hate practically emanating off it in waves. Naruto was briefly reminded of his first run in with Zabuza and felt partially frozen by the familiar bloodlust. Link, however, just carefully watched the bleeding predator. He knew, on some primal level, that the tiger wouldn't be able to fight much longer.

The wolf took the initiative and bounded towards the tiger, startling the other two animals present. Midna, who had felt his muscles tensing, was prepared and waited for when the tiger started to move. Her scarf twisted into the shape of a hand and pointed at the monster, who froze again when an almost visible orange current ran through it. Naruto started after Link, even though he had a feeling it wouldn't be too necessary. The wolf leapt and sank his jaws into the throat while the fox went after the side that hadn't been pulled apart. Link spilt the throat open and began chewing on the various tendons and chords inside it, while Naruto practically climbed into the monster through a hole he had made and started mutilating various things in there. Midna hovered a little away from the battle, more than slightly disgusted at the scene.

Link felt more than heard the tiger's moan and released the neck. The monster collapsed onto its mutilated-but-foxless side, and Naruto backed/jumped out of the side he was digging into. Both Naruto and Link warily watched the monster until its form collapsed into dust. They looked at each other, but before the boys could say anything they were scooped up by a large orange hand and thrown into the river.

"Bath time, dog boys!" Midna shouted from a safe distance. "There's no way we're going in there covered with monster blood!"

Link blinked at the sudden shift of priorities and couldn't help but laugh at the change. Naruto stared at him and couldn't help thinking the wolf had a few screws loose as well as hoping he himself wouldn't end up that way.

Five minutes and a very angry, very wet Midna later, they were standing in front of the tree again

"The Light Spring is right in there," the Twili pointed to the huge tree where the water was flowing from. Both boys walked towards the opening as Midna commented, "Let's hope our cat friend didn't have any buddies."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Meanwhile, beyond Konoha's gates in the twilight covered forest that surrounds it, there was one bubble that hadn't been touched by the vile magic. A figure stood inside it but, seeing as it was naturally still nighttime, the "light" area was dark and obscured the person inside. The figure was moving slowly towards the village, but was breathing heavily as if it had run a marathon nonstop.

"Hurry up, Link," it said, voice betraying its fatigue and femininity, "I can't hold this barrier for much longer."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"You want me to **what**!?" Link's shocked cry echoed throughout the hollow area under the tree.

As expected, the source of the river flowed from under the old tree and over time had carved out a cave-like area. Some dirt between the mighty roots had fallen away, making windows for which sunlight could enter and provide energy for the reeds that were growing along the banks of the small lake. The Twilight, of course, gave the spring a surreal feeling to it.

Midna, however, just glared defensively. "I want you to make a Light Spirit!"

"Are you even listening to what you're saying!?" Link roared, and his being a wolf made it a little more intimidating than usual. "The Goddesses are the ones who make Light Spirits, not young men running around in tights with a person from another world in their shadow!"

"Yeah, but you have a part of the Triforce—an object that has the power of the Goddesses themselves! It makes perfect sense!"

Naruto, who had been silent the whole time watching them argue back and forth like a tennis match, spoke up. "Actually, it does make some sense in very, very twisted way." Link's outraged gaze swept to the young fox, and Naruto suddenly remembered that wolves tend to prey on foxes. He shoved the thought out of his mind and continued. "I mean, it wouldn't hurt to try, and if it doesn't work, we'll have to figure something else out."

Link's massive wolf head swung back and forth between the two, feeling outnumbered. Finally, he huffed. "Fine, I'll try it. But when this doesn't work we're heading straight for Plan B."

The imp nodded idly as he made his way to the bank. Naruto turned quizzically to Midna. "What's Plan B?"

"Don't have one." She answered cheerfully. "So let's pray I'm right."

Link, on the other hand, had his left paw in the water and was feeling increasingly foolish. He wasn't a regular magic user, so how exactly would he know what to do? Plus, the sheer stupidity of the plan had pretty much doomed it from the start. But in any case, he imagined the power of his Triforce spreading into the water. He tried to mentally push it out.

The wolf continued to try this, and just when he was about to complain about it not working he felt something shift and the energy actually started leeching into the water. He opened his mouth to tell the others it was working, but he started feeling drained as more and more energy entered the spring, certain it was too much.

Meanwhile, both Midna and Naruto were gaping as the water started glowing gold. Even Midna was a little surprised it had worked and felt like celebrating, but then Link's legs seemed to stop working. Naruto was slightly horrified when he noticed the water was still getting brighter despite the wolf's collapse. He bounded the few steps to where the swordsman-turned-wolf was laying and, despite Midna's warning shriek, jumped into the water. The seal on his stomach, which had been hidden by the fur, glowed an angry red.

Here's an easy question: what happens when holy and demonic energies mix?

A silent explosion happened where the ninja-turned-fox was in the water, and the shockwave blew both animals out of the spring and swept across the entire village. The Twilight quickly dispersed when hit by the light energy filled shockwave, leaving behind the darkness of the night. The figure out in the woods suddenly straightened and took off towards the epicenter of the blast.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Link forced his eyes to open when he heard someone calling his name. A red and brown blur above him seemed oddly familiar and he forced his languid mind to come up with a name.

"Good, you're awake. Somewhat." The blur spoke as it became crisper with more defined edges. The swordsman was able to make out golden eyes when it clicked. He tried to say the blur's name, but it seemed like too much of an effort at the moment. The Hylian just settled with mouthing it, and the figure bobbed its head in approval. "You remembered little ol' Kakara? I'm flattered.

"But let's skip the pleasantries. It looks like you were wandering through the Lost Woods and moved through what is called a Lost Door. In the past, two of them served as shortcuts to Goron City and the opening to Zora's Domain. I'm not entirely sure where all the others lead or how many 'others' there are, but it looks like you stumbled through one that leads to this world, because as you can probably guess, this sure as hell isn't our world. When we get back, I'm going to have to close it to make sure some kid doesn't wander through it.

"And don't worry, that massive whatever-you-did seems to have healed all your injuries." The Gerudo paused and cocked her head to the side. "What did you do anyway?"

"Made a Light Spirit." His voice sounded hoarse and the statement came out more like a moan. Kakara's eyebrows shot up.

"Okay, that's a new one on me." She conceded before turning her head and motioning with it. "It does, however, explain that."

Blinking groggily, Link rolled his head to the side and felt the last vestiges of sleep surprised out of him. Hovering above the clear water was a pulsing ball of golden light, lighting up the entire spring like a miniature sun. He did feel a little concerned when he noticed there was no guardian spirit around.

"It's still in a raw energy state because the guardian hasn't been made yet." Kakara seemed to read his mind, and he wouldn't be too surprised if she could. "The spirit will form over time, but this was enough to banish the Twilight. Let me guess: tall, dark, and pointy strikes again?"

Link managed to answer in the affirmative. The girl stood up and offered a gloved hand which he took and continued to pull Link to his feet. "I'm pretty sure His Creepiness has already gone back to Hyrule. Your underdeveloped Light Spirit is radiating enough energy to send him running with his tail between his legs. How's the shadow?"

"Fine until you asked!" A familiar voice snapped from somewhere.

The swordswoman just nodded and took it all in stride. She jerked a thumb behind her. "So, who's the kid?"

Link mentally kicked himself as he pushed a surprised redhead out of the way. "Naruto!"

Sure enough, the blond ninja was laying a few feet away in clothing that looked suspiciously like pajamas. In three long strides the Hylian was kneeling beside him and checking his pulse. "Relax," Kakara's voice came from behind him accompanied by her footsteps, "I had Lanyrr check him for injuries. That wave thing healed him too."

Link was busy feeling the heartbeats and didn't catch most of what she said, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he couldn't find anything wrong with it. He looked up and noticed, for the first time, the small kitten sitting nearby that was watching him with bright blue eyes.

"He probably isn't used to running around all hours of the night," Link jumped when Kakara's voice came from beside him, "so you should probably let him sleep."

Link nodded his agreement before he turned his head to the Gerudo. "Since you're here, you must've figured out how we got here, right? And to take us back?"

Kakara nodded to both questions, and Link sighed. "Alright, just let me take him back to his house and—"

"No." She interrupted, her hair flying as she shook her head. "Lanyrr can take him back. You're needed in our world."

At her words, the brown kitten jumped onto the boy's chest. Link was back on his feet, though, and the redhead straightened as well. "Wait, can I be there when he wakes up so I can say goodbye?"

"No." Kakara's eyes narrowed dangerously into golden slits. "You need to get back to Hyrule ASAP and finish what you set out to do."

"Well, can I at least leave something with him then? Just so that he won't wake up and think tonight was just a dream?" Link pinched the bridge of his nose. Arguing with the Gerudo almost always gave him a headache.

When she didn't immediately respond, he opened his eyes and was a little surprised that her head was bowed; she seemed to be thinking it over. The kitten was still sitting patiently on Naruto's chest, watching them with intelligent blue eyes. Eventually Kakara raised her head and locked eyes with the swordsman. "Do you anything you can afford to leave with him?" He belatedly realized he didn't and averted his eyes, embarrassed.

She, however, sounded faintly amused. "Well then, what about this?"

Link looked back at the small ceramic item in her gloved palm and frowned. He recognized it, but it wasn't of any particular value to him. "I don't get it."

"Of course you don't." Kakara was smiling and he could tell she was holding back laughter. "It was before your time."

Before Link could respond, she tossed the tan item so it landed on Naruto's chest right beside Lanyrr. As if that was a signal, there was a brief gust of wind and all three vanished. Link silently said his goodbye as he watched some of the stirred up leaves follow the general direction of the gust.

He was brought back to himself when something grabbed his arm and tugged in another direction. Kakara looked a little irritated, and she leaned in closer as the wind started to whip around them. "Barf on me again and Hyrule will have to find another hero."

Link just grinned awkwardly, remembering the last time he got pulled on the whirlwind ride. He opened his mouth to try to joke about it, but the wind stole his words.

Soon enough, the only thing left under the tree was a tiny dust devil and the glowing light above the spring. The light sank underwater and went out, leaving the darkness of the night undisturbed once again.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The first thing he registered was that he was warm and cozy. The next was a chilly breeze brushing his face. Naruto shuddered slightly and cracked an eye open, waiting for the world to dim enough so he could see.

An open window eventually came into sight, and the blond frowned. Hadn't he closed it when he went to bed last night? And he remembered locking it too; it was a pain to open with his paws.

A sluggish moment passed while his tired mind rethought that sentence and tried to find out what was wrong with it.

Click.

Naruto shot out of bed with a yell as he remembered everything that went down last night. He looked down at himself, and instead of seeing white belly fur was met with his light blue pajamas. His eyes darted over to the window again to reaffirm that yes, that was sunlight and not freaky half-light spilling through the glass panes. He couldn't help the large grin that spread across his face as he came to the only probable conclusion.

"It worked!" His bare feet barely touched the ground before he was running into the adjacent room. "It worked! Link, it—Link?"

The cot Link was told to use as a bed was made and didn't appear slept in. Naruto shrugged and dashed into the kitchen, figuring he was just eating breakfast already. But the kitchen was empty as well, and there was no lingering smell of ramen in his apartment either. The bathroom door was open and vacant. A quick check showed he wasn't for whatever reason in the closet.

"Link?" Naruto wasn't entirely sure what to make of all this. It was apparent the swordsman wasn't in his house anymore, but he just didn't know why. A thought occurred to him, and he started looking more closely for a note or something.

Half an hour later Naruto sat down in defeat. There was no note, no message, and everything was the same. Everything, he thought as he gazed sadly at the object in his hand, other than a small ceramic ocarina.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Kakara smiled as she walked through the crowded streets of Castle Town. It had been a few months since the final showdown with Ganon and things seemed to be finally getting back to normal: people were returning to Castle Town, she was back to guarding the princess (for the time being, anyway), the castle was in its first stages of being rebuilt, and all of said structures debris had been removed. All of Hyrule seemed to have recovered already: Death Mountain wasn't set to erupt again, the last of the Zoras thawed out, most of the monsters had been cleared from the major roads and now seem to be hiding out in secluded pockets, and the desert… well, okay, it was still as lonely as ever. But she was getting used to that.

Following Midna's departure, Link had, for all intents and purposes, dropped off the face of the earth. There were a few scattered reports of travelers getting saved from monsters out on the roads by a lad in green, so she could at least be sure he wasn't dead. Zelda was concerned, but all her attention was forced onto helping the kingdom getting back onto its feet. Kakara herself had debated whether or not to look for him, but she thought he just needed some time alone, just like last time when his guide left him. The only difference was, she thought ruefully, he wouldn't be able to journey out of Hyrule to find her.

The last Gerudo sighed quietly to herself as she dodged some kids running through the market. That's how things always seemed to go, following a set pattern some sadistic puppeteer could have come up with. An evil shows up and rips apart life as they know it; a hero steps in, sets everything straight, takes out the evil and fades back into obscurity, his name lost to all but time itself (she tried her best not to snort at the irony of that statement; really, she did).

As she walked up to the gate of the castle, the redhead couldn't help but think she had forgotten something. Kakara frowned and pawed through the contents of her basket. She mentally went off the list of what the cook needed, and when she found she had everything she checked again, just to make sure. Oregano, thyme, basil, ginseng, paprika—looks like she didn't forget anything, but she still had that nagging feeling she forgot to do something.

The Gerudo shrugged off the feeling and continued up the steps. Whatever it was, it must not've been too important.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Silence reigned in the forest glade, far from any human settlements. Grass covered the ground like a living, green carpet, and trees stretched into the sky and tickled the clouds. Some soft, pastel colored flowers dotted the ground, some illuminated by the light that filtered through the tree branches. The only thing seemingly out of the ordinary was a large log resting on its side in the clearing.

A small, white butterfly flitted from flower to flower, drinking their nectar and unwittingly pollinating the flowers. It landed on a particularly sweet blossom, and its insect eyes spied the same type of flower on the other side of the clearing. Gently flapping its wings, the butterfly drifted towards the flower, unconcerned about having to fly through the large log to get there. Its small mind wasn't frightened when the air around it distorted, unable to comprehend the feeling of unsteady balance.

When space straightened out again, the little insect was nowhere to be found. No one was around to witness the vanishing act or to understand its significance.

The Door remained open.

* * *

Apologies for having to slip one of my OCs in there. I couldn't think of a better way to end it.

There is no sequel planned, I just hate endings. If someone else wants to write a sequel, I say go for it and to just give me a heads-up about it. I'd rather Kakara and Lanyrr weren't included in a sequel, but if someone wants to add them, they'll have to consult me on anything they say/do if only because I'm freaky protective of my characters. Typical case of Mama Bear syndrome.

(Actually, Kakara isn't supposed to be able to fend off the twilight, so I have no idea where she got that power.)

This chapter totaled 9 pages and 5,348 words, including the author's notes.

That said, review if you like. I'm going to go work on something that I can be proud of.


End file.
